The Still Priest
“''He needs people for his church… There’s less and less people that believe in god, so who's there to listen to him?”'' I moved to a countryside house adjacent to a stream when I was fifteen years old. My new home was far away from the city; I didn't have anything interesting to do in my new neighborhood, except maybe taking a walk. The school I was attending wasn't too far from my house, so I could walk to school during the week. One night, there was a quarrel between my parents and I wanted to go outside to calm down. I was walking down the sandy road when I saw a priest waiting strangely; standing in the backyard of a church that I hadn't noticed before. This man was not looking at me; he was looking at the cemetery. It made me feel both sad and scared at the same time. The priest was speaking to the tombs, as if they could hear him. “You should have believed in God.” I entered the church out of curiosity and there was nobody inside... except a young man sitting on a bench. I could only see his back, but he seemed to be praying. I didn't want to disturb him so I left the building. Part 2: It was Monday. I ate my breakfast quickly and left for school. When I passed in front of the church, I saw the same priest as last time. He was still there, watching the tombs as if he was expecting them to move. He was still repeating the same phrase. “You should have believed in God.” I had the feeling that something was wrong with this church, but I couldn't fight the urge to go in once again. This time, there were three people inside, all of them sitting with their backs to me. The same young man as the other day and two other young women. I left and went to school. I was coming back from school when I saw, once again, the priest standing in the backyard of the church. This time, I wanted to know why he had such an obsession for the cemetery. It has been more than two days now. I approached the backyard and asked him. “I'm sorry to disturb you... but may I ask you why you haven't moved in such a long time?” The priest turned his head to look at me. He had sunken eyes and he looked scary. “I'll move when I'll have a reason too,” the priest replied. He just stared at me for a while, and then he turned his gaze back to the tombs. I did the same. I looked at the graveyard and my heart stopped: hundreds of holes had been dug, as if someone had desecrated the tombs. Terrified, I entered the church, wondering why there were always people inside when the priest was always outside. This time, there were five people: the young man and the ladies I had seen before, and two other men. Knowing the priest wouldn't help me understand what was going on, I walked in the church to ask for help to them and saw the face of all those five people. They were all dead and putrefied. I ran out of the church. I was paralyzed by fear when I realized that the priest wasn't in the graveyard anymore. “You should have believed in God…” Category:Places Category:Mental Illness